Spring wire snap fastener socket



12, 1954 P. E. FENTON ET AL 2,665,463

SPRING WIRE SNAP FASTENER SOCKET Filed D80. 1, 1951 IN V EN TOR 5. Paul E. Fenton Michael J. Curpinella Attorn 0y Patented Jan. 12, 1954 SPRING WIRE SNAP FASTENER SOCKET Paul E. Fenton, Middlebury,

Carpinella, Waterbury, Conn.,

and Michael J. assignors t Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, 001111., a corporation of Connecticut ApplicationDecember 1, 1951, Serial No. 259,452

(ill. 24-218) 3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to snap fastener sockets and particularly to the type provided with a wire spring member for detachable engagement with a complemental stud member. This fastener is adapted to be attached to a garment by a prong lil'lg attaching member such as disclosed in the Fenton Patent No. 2,106,728 and is made to withstand any laundering of a garment to which the fasteners may be attached.

t has heretofore been proposed to providefasteners of this general type which combine the advantages of a light snap action provided by the use of a wire spring with which the stud member has snapping engagement, along with the attachment by the use of the prong ring. Such fasteners involve a spring retaining shell and a deflector or anvil member within the shell for deforming the prongs when the fastener is attached to its support. In this prong clinching operation, however, the deflector plate is likely to be jammed against the spring so as to interfere with its action and it is this problem which the present invention effectively solves in an economical manner. According to our invention this problem is solved by either a central tubular projection on the shell base upon which the central part of the deflector member bears so as to center and support the deflector member, or by means for stoutly supporting peripheral portions of the deflector plate to prevent them from being jammed against the spring, and preferably by both of these supporting means in combination.

Two embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of our improved socket shown assembled to a garment support by an attaching prong ring.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the socket member, per se, taken along line 22 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the socket with portions broken away to show the assembled position of the wire spring.

Fig. i is a plan view of the wire spring, per so, as it appears removed from the socket.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view through the socket of a modified form of construction, and

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 'i---? of Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 8 refers generally to a socket member that may be attached to one side ofa garment support H by means of. a prong ring member l2.

More specifically the socket member 8 consists of a housing shell Iil having an annular base H! with a central tubular projection It surrounding an opening l5 through which the head of a complemental stud member, not shown, may be inserted. The upper end of the tubular projection It! is preferably closed by a more or less domed section it. A circumferential wall I! projects upwardly from the annular base l3 of the housing shell It in the same direction as the central tubular projection It. The central tubular projection is is provided with diametrically positioned slots or openings 1 8 that may be skived out of the tubular projection or otherwise provided therein.

A spring wire member H3 is positioned within the socket shell It. As best shown in Fig. 4 the wire member it consists of a substantially semicircular portion 2!], a pair of S-shaped sections 21 that terminate in a pair of opposed straight arms 22. The arms 22 are located within the slots or openings is of the central tubular projection l 4 and are adapted to have snap locking engagement with a stud member to which the socket member may be assembled.

The wire member l 9 as shown in its initial state in Fig. 4 is formed so that the semicircular portion 20 is slightly greater than the inside dimension of the shell circumferential wall I! and thus disposing the opposed arms 22 in a diverging position, but when the spring member 59 is assembled into the housing shell it the semicircular portion 20 will be confined and compressedby the: wall I"! and the opposed arms 22 will be located in the slots is in parallel relationship to each other as shown in Fig. 3.

The prong ring member l2 that is employed to attach the socket to a support consists of an annular ring 23 having a plurality of pointed prongs 2% extending from the inner diameter of said ring and substantially at right angles to theplane of said ring. The prongs 24 are adapted to pierce through the garment support I I and to be clinched over within the socket member 8 for permanently anchoring the socket member to the support.

In order to deflect the pointed prongs 24 in the setting of the socket member 8 provision is made of an anvil or deflector plate 25 located within the housing shell Hi. The deflector plate 25 is formed With an inclined cam portion 25 that terminates in a flat annular rim 21 positioned above the wire spring member l9. The central part of the deflector plate is pierced out as at Ztand the edge" of .this.piercing rests upon. the domed section it of the projection M in order to support the deflector plate so that the annular rim 2? will be normally positioned in slightly spaced position relative to the wire member I9. This also serves to centralize the deflector member with reference to the housing shell l0. After the spring member l9 and deflector plate 25 are assembled into the socket member the upper portion of the wall ll is formed inwardly to provide a closure flange 29 that will hold the deflector plate 25 in a more or less loose relationship within the housing shell Ill, and also provide enough space between the flange 29 and the annular rim Z'l to provide a prong receiving recess 30.

In the assembly of the prong ring member [2 and the socket member 3 the pointed prongs 2 will be aligned with the cam portion 26 of the deflector plate 25 so that when the two parts are axially forced together the pointed prongs will be deflected outwardly by said cam portion and clinched within the prong receiving recess 38 in the manner as shown in Fig. 1.

In the assembly of the parts the point prongs 24 are likely to subject the deflector plate 2'! to some amount of distortion, but this invention contemplates further supporting the deflector plate 2! so that the full force of deflecting the prongs 24 will not jam the annular rim 2'! of the deflector plate against arms 22 or other portions of the spring wire member l9 so as to interfere with the movement and efliciency of said spring member. To assure an adequate support for the deflector plate rim 27 we provide several projections or ribs 3| formed up from the :base l3 of the housing shell l9. As shown in Fig. 3, three of these projections 3! are provided and so spaced as not to interfere with the action of the spring member l9. It will be understood that in forming the projections 35 their height should be a few thousandths greater than the diametrical A size of the wire from which the spring member if! is made.

A modified construction is shown in Figs. 6 and '7 wherein there are employed elongated ribs oriented so as not to interfere with the action of the spring member l9. Specifically an elongated rib 32 is formed up from the base l3 of the housing shell iii positioned adjacent the mid portion of the spring semi-circular portion 28. Another slightly longer rib 33 is formed in the shell base !3 diametrically opposite from the rib 32 and positioned in front of the ends of the spring straight arms 22. Also another pair of like ribs 34 is positioned within the area defined by the outer legs of the spring S-shaped sections 2!. With the above ribs so positioned it will be obvious that the maximum area of the deflector plate rim 2'5 will be supported without danger of any portion of said rim being distorted into contact with the spring member in the deflecting of the prongs of the attaching ring in the setting of the socket member.

It is understood that our invention is not limited to the specific embodiments shown and that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A snap fastener socket comprising a socket housing having an annular base with a central tubular upward projection surrounding a stud receiving opening, a peripheral wall projecting upwardly from said base, said tubular projection having transverse slots provided therein adjacent said base, a wire spring member fitted within said socket upon said base and confined by said peripheral wall, said spring member having a pair of yieldingly connected arms positioned in said slots and extending across said opening for snap locking engagement with a stud member, and a ring-like deflector member including an annular rim portion overlying portions of said spring, said deflector member also having an upwardly directed central camming portion which tapers inwardly, the inner edge of said deflector men..- ber overlying and bearing against said tubular projection to support said deflector member to prevent the rim of the same from jamming against the resilient parts of said spring, the upper portion of said peripheral wall being turned inwardly over the rim of said deflector member to provide a prong receiving chamber between the same and said deflector member.

2. A snap fastener socket comprising a socket housing having an annular base with a central tubular upward projection surrounding a stud receiving opening, a peripheral wall projecting upwardly from said base, said tubular projection having transverse slots provided therein adjacent said base, a wire spring member fitted within said socket upon said base and confined by said peripheral wall, said spring member having a pair of yieldingly connected arms positioned in said slots and extending across said opening for snap locking engagement with a stud member, a ringlike deflector member including an annular rim portion overlying portions of said spring, said deflector member also having an upwardly directed central camming portion which tapers inwardly, the inner edge of said deflector member overlying and bearing against said tubular projection, the upper portion of said peripheral wall being turned inwardly over the rim of said deflector member to provide a prong receiving chamber between the same and said deflector member, and a plurality of projections struck upwardly from said socket housing base and being of a height greater than the thickness of the spring and serving to support an intermediate part of the annular rim portion of said deflector member to prevent said deflector member from being bent downwardly against said spring.

3. A snap fastener socket comprising a socket housing having an annular base with a central tubular upward projection surrounding a stud receiving opening, a peripheral wall projecting upwardly from said base, said tubular projection having transverse slots provided therein adjacent said base, a wire spring member fitted within said socket upon said base and conined by said peripheral wall, said spring member comprising a substantially semicircular portion tensioned against the inner surface of said peripheral wall and having its ends connected to S-shaped elements terminating in straight arms the latter being positioned in said slots and extending across said opening for snap locking engagement with a stud member, a ring-like deflector member including a flat annular rim portion parallel to said socket base and overlying portions of the spring, said deflector member also having an upwardly and inwardly directed central oamming portion, the upper portion of said peripheral wall being turned inwardly over the rim of said deflector member to provide a prong receiving chamber between the same and said deflector member and a plurality of projections struck upwardly from said socket housing base and being of a height greater than the thickness of the spring and serving to support an intermediate part of the 5 annular rim portion of said deflector member Number to prevent said deflector member from being bent 1,366,574 downwardly against said spring, at least one such 1,434,245 projection being located between the outer legs 2,286,438 of each S-shaped element. 5

PAUL E. FE'NTON. MICHAEL J. CARPINELLA. Number 476,000 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 1,182,857 Reid May 9, 1916 Name Date Lundstrom Jan. 25, 192-1 Choate Oct. 31, 1922 Reiter June 16, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Apr. 13, 1915 

